1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to propulsion technologies for use with space, air and other vehicles; more specifically to a propulsion system based entirely on electric and electromagnetic forces, and including methods that provide high efficiency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following references represent the closest prior art known to Applicants at the time of the filing of the present application:                US Patent Documents:        
5,142,861September 1992USA5,197,279March 1993USA6,492,784December 2002USA7,190,108April 2007USA                Foreign Patent Documents:        
1586195February 1970France2036646December 1970France58-32976(A)February 1983Japan1268467A2October 1989Japan
Of the above references, the closest prior art reference appears to be that which is described in Japanese Patent JP1268467A2, entitled “Electromagnetic Propulsion Device.” This prior art also uses two electromagnet coils that are separated by a distance, and are operated with two modulated currents in a manner similar to the present invention. It, however, does not appear to use any improvements in efficiency, such as the techniques to reduce the effects of circuit impedance. Without these improvements, this prior art has an electrical efficiency considerably less than that for current Ion Engine technology (the DS1 Ion engine is used here as a baseline). A quick calculation indicates that, as it is, for a 2000 watt input (like the DS1 engine), this design produces about 10−6 Newtons thrust. The DS1 Ion Engine produces about 0.092 Newtons (0.33 oz.) thrust. The significance of the efficiency improvements included in the current invention's design will be discussed at length within this specification. Also, as discussed in the section entitled “Basic Embodiment Operations”, this prior art is essentially a two element array antenna.
Another concept that is based on magnetic forces is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,861, entitled “Nonlinear Electromagnetic Propulsion System and Method.” This design, however, uses a single antenna and operates at a very low frequency, as opposed to multiple circuits and a higher frequency for the subject invention. Because of the very high currents required, cryogenic cooling and superconducting conductor materials are also required. According to the analysis done in this prior art description, that design could have an efficiency of from several times up to about 20 times that of the DS1 Ion Engine. This analysis however does not appear to include the power required for cooling, which reduces the system's efficiency significantly.
A third prior art reference which discusses principles similar to the present invention is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,279, entitled “Electromagnetic Energy Propulsion Engine.” There are, however, a number of factors that distinguish Applicant's invention from this prior work. This prior work required superconducting electromagnets, whereas the subject invention, while not requiring it, can use a superconducting electromagnet to possibly improve efficiency. The concept of magnetic field phase and propagation speed apparently did not factor into the prior work. As such, there was no effort in this prior art to use the concept of signal phase change due to signal propagation. While no power requirements were calculated in the prior work, it appears that it required very large amounts of electrical power to operate. Also, while that concept used pulsed currents (pulsed at about 1 KHz), there was no mention of the use of losses that occur in superconducting electromagnets from these pulsed currents.
The largest difference, however, between that prior work and Applicant's invention appears to be how these two concepts work and the associated assumptions about magnetic field interactions. The present invention is based on forces exerted on electric charges moving through a magnetic field. This is an accepted phenomenon, and the elementary basis for magnetic field theories in all the physics and engineering electromagnetism texts that we have seen or studied. However, the prior work relies on an assumption that two magnetic fields exert forces on each other (as opposed to forces on electrical currents). This assumption is not supported by any theories that we are aware of, and appears to be a flaw in the prior work's use of magnetic field interactions; interactions which are the basis for the operation of the prior Electromagnetic Energy Propulsion Engine concept.
The conceptual photon propulsion system is another system that is similar to this concept. Photon propulsion, however, is a very inefficient technique. A focused photon beam with a power of P watts, produces a thrust of P/C Newtons (where “C” is the speed of light in meters/second), which is comparable to this concept without any of the efficiency improvements described below.
The Japanese Patent 58-32976(A) and the French Patents 1586195 and 2036646 listed above also bear some similarity to the principles utilized in the present invention. However, none of these concepts appear to utilize forces on electrical currents in magnetic fields, or the concept of out of phase forces to create a positive net force. Although the Japanese patent document describes the production of strong magnetic fields, the only electromagnetic energy that propagates away from the vehicle exists in the form of photons. These photons irradiate into space by emanating from a wave guide to a concave surface of a parabolic member where they are reflected and then pass through pulsing high-frequency magnetic fields. Alternatively, photons are generated when free electrons in conductors are caused to be either accelerated or decelerated in the process of producing strong magnetic field pulses. Also the only electromagnetic energy that departs from the vicinity from either of the French devices exists in the form of photons that are radiated into space, the photons being generated in the acceleration or deceleration of free electrons used to produce the electromagnetic field pulses of the inventions. Each of these concepts appear to create a propulsion force entirely from the propagation of photons (as does the conceptual photon propulsion system), and as a result each has very low efficiencies.
Another body of prior art which is relevant to the concepts embodied in the present invention is art which includes such teachings as those described with respect to any antenna system that focuses RF energy, similar to the present invention, and similar to the teachings of this invention and that disclosed in Japanese Patent JP1268467A2. These concepts will be discussed more thoroughly in the written description which follows.
The systems described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,492,784 and 7,190,108 also appear to be similar to this EM Propulsion System. As in the first previous prior art above, neither of these appear to consider the effects of electrical circuit impedance. Neither use methods to improve efficiency, such as the techniques to reduce the effects of circuit impedance. U.S. Pat. No. 7,190,108 is an electromagnetic design that is essentially arrays of RF antennas that operate at a very high radio frequency. As a result, it is highly affected by circuit impedance. U.S. Pat. No. 6,492,784 is an electrostatic design which is also affected by circuit impedance. In addition to not including the effects of electrical circuit impedance, this prior invention appears to be based on an incomplete electrostatic force analysis. This results in a net force on the system that is not supported by electrostatic theory.